13 July Invest In You In 2020 July 13, 2020By ICI Administrator General 0 Invest in you in 2020 In the following opinion piece, David Castledine, CEO of CCF NSW and the Institute of Civil Infrastructure, shares his personal approach to professional development. In my view, everyone should invest some time in personal learning. It’s good for themselves and their career, and it’s good for the industry. Everyone knows this, but few do it, particularly in the civil industry. Here is the strategy I have honed over my 40-year working career; it has taken me from Apprentice to CEO. Not long ago I attended a conference, a really good one. I learnt some incredible stuff and imported it into my work. Taking time to focus on ME, on my professional development, is very important to me. I like learning new things. Learning gets my brain juices going and inspires me to want to learn more. It gets me up and about and motivates me. It’s also proven to be pretty good for my career. This might seem a bit selfish, but that’s okay. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be better and to improve one’s job prospects. There is nothing wrong with controlling where you take yourself, and in following your interests – filling gaps in your skillset for the advantage of YOU. The flip side of the personal benefit I have gained from doing this last course is that I am already better at my job. My employer benefits from my learning by having a more skilled employee (BTW there’s your pitch to have an employer pay for the training). Learning just makes you better in all ways – there are no down sides. I have come to this truism from my time as a Leading Hand, a new engineer, a project manager, a business owner, and now as a CEO. But you already know this, right? So, why don’t we all do more of it? Why don’t YOU? I think perhaps the answer is in three parts… Firstly, just like you, I am very busy. My work is all consuming and I feel strangely guilty about diverting my attention from the job. Taking time to focus on ME is not easy. So, what I have implemented to counter this is to first accept that I deserve some time for me. I am worthy of some investment. Indeed, if I really care about myself and my family in the long run, I have to do it. This step gives me permission to do what I enjoy – to learn. Without it, in my early years, I found a reason to not do the learning. I effectively martyred myself by saying I was ‘too busy’ for me. It’s an important step, but I have found it does not work alone without a simple rule being imposed. So, next I set aside a certain number of hours every year – a minimum of 25 hours. The final part is opportunity. I do not have time or energy at the moment to do a long course; it’s just too daunting. But I consider myself very fortunate because, as part of my current roles, I get the opportunity to see some amazing short content options that will help my career. There are so many exciting things to learn. What about you? What do you have access to? When I joined the civil industry nine years ago, I was shocked to see that no formal civil-specific continual professional development program existed for supervisors and managers. Most other industries have one. I did not think that was very good for the people in the industry. Nor is it good for the industry. So, we did something about it at the CCF NSW by creating the Institute of Civil Infrastructure, which opened its doors in February 2019 and started delivering short (two to four hour) training courses. It’s about supporting PEOPLE by giving YOU the opportunity to focus on YOU and YOUR career. Gradings are also available to map and recognise your career progression from Entrant, Practitioner, Advanced, Expert and then Master Civil Infrastructure Manager. In my view, everyone should invest some time in learning. It’s good for themselves and their career, and it’s good for the industry. Here is my approach to managing that: 1. Acknowledge you deserve to invest in YOU. It’s good for your well-being, career and employer; 2. Set minimum hours per year to invest in yourself; 3. Find the opportunity, where you can easily find content that interests you. I am not saying this is easy, but I hope my own policy helps someone. Do something for yourself. Go get some learning into you. This opinion piece was first published on David Castledine's LinkedIn page. He welcomes you to connect with him and the Institute of Civil Infrastructure on LinkedIn. 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